DOCSLIB.ORG

Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent: A New Frontline in the Global Jihadist Movement? In September 2014, al-Qaeda Central (AQC) launched its latest regional affiliate, al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). The new group ICCT Policy Brief was created to operate across South Asia, however, with its centre of May 2016 gravity and leadership based in Pakistan. This paper is a background brief, designed for policy makers, to shed light on and increase Author: understanding of AQC’s latest affiliate AQIS. At first glance the lack of Alastair Reed successful action has led many to argue that AQIS is of limited threat. However, despite early setbacks, the group has not been eliminated and continues to organise and plan for the future. DOI: 10.19165/2016.2.02 ISSN: 2468-0486 About the Author Alastair Reed Dr. Alastair Reed is Research Coordinator and a Research Fellow at ICCT, joining ICCT and Leiden University’s Institute of Security and Global Affairs in the autumn of 2014. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor at Utrecht University, where he completed his doctorate on research focused on understanding the processes of escalation and de-escalation in Ethnic Separatist conflicts in India and the Philippines. His main areas of interest are Terrorism and Insurgency, Conflict Analysis, Conflict Resolution, Military and Political Strategy, and International Relations, in particular with a regional focus on South Asia and South-East Asia. His current research projects address the foreign- fighter phenomenon, focusing on motivation and the use of strategic communications. About ICCT The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague (ICCT) is an independent think and do tank providing multidisciplinary policy advice and practical, solution-oriented implementation support on prevention and the rule of law, two vital pillars of effective counter-terrorism. ICCT’s work focuses on themes at the intersection of countering violent extremism and criminal justice sector responses, as well as human rights related aspects of counter-terrorism. The major project areas concern countering violent extremism, rule of law, foreign fighters, country and regional analysis, rehabilitation, civil society engagement and victims’ voices. Functioning as a nucleus within the international counter-terrorism network, ICCT connects experts, policymakers, civil society actors and practitioners from different fields by providing a platform for productive collaboration, practical analysis, and exchange of experiences and expertise, with the ultimate aim of identifying innovative and comprehensive approaches to preventing and countering terrorism. 1. Introduction In September 2014, al-Qaeda Central (AQC) launched its latest regional affiliate, al- Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), building on the already existing affiliates such as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) or Jabhat al-Nusra (JAN) in Syria. The new group was created to operate across South Asia, however, with its centre of gravity and leadership based in Pakistan. It was formed through the amalgamation of numerous pre-existing al-Qaeda associated regional and local groups. The creation of this new al-Qaeda affiliate followed soon after the formal split between AQC and ISIS, with the latter’s declaration of a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and seemingly threatening to replace AQC as the leader of the global jihad. Timing which led many to perceive the creation of AQIS as merely a reaction to these events and an attempt to regain the initiative by AQC. As a result of the split, both AQC and ISIS started to compete for influence and the loyalty of Jihadist groups across the globe, which would in due course also reach South Asia. This paper is a background brief, designed for policy makers, to shed light on and increase understanding of AQC’s latest affiliate AQIS. This paper starts with outlining what AQIS is, which groups it was created from and who its leaders are. Second, the reasons for the creation of AQIS are explored. Third, AQIS’s narrative is dissected and examined. Fourth, the group’s operational strategy, through the terrorist attacks carried out by AQIS since its formation, are investigated. Finally, the rivalry between ISIS and AQIS in South Asia is addressed, before concluding with an analyses of the future prospects of AQIS. 2. Who is AQIS? According to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri’s announcement of the formation of AQIS, it was the product of more than two years’ work in recruiting fighters and uniting different pre-existing Jihadi groups in the Indian Subcontinent.1 As explained in the first edition of al Qaeda’s magazine Resurgence 2, “[t]he establishment of this organization is a direct result of the merger of several groups that have been engaged in Jihad in this region for several years. In guidance of their Ameer, Shaykh Ayman al Zawahiri, the leaders of these Jihadi groups have joined forces to coalesce into a single organisation, Jama’ah Qa’eda al jihad in the Subcontinent.” 3 However, exactly which Jihadi groups have been merged to form AQIS, has never been confirmed by the group. The topic is subject to some debate among analysts and below is a list of groups compiled from ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… different sources, elements of which are thought likely to have been included in the formation of AQIS:4 o Afghan Taliban (Afghanistan) o Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) (Pakistan) o Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI) (Bangladesh and Pakistan) o Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) (disputed Kashmir region) o Harkat-ul-Mujahideen al Almi (HuMA) (Pakistan) o Brigade 313 (Pakistan) o Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) (Pakistan) o Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) (Pakistan) o Jundullah (Pakistan) o Ansar ut-Tawhid wa al Jihad in Kashmir (disputed Kashmir region) o Ansar al Islam Bangladesh (Bangladesh) o Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) (Bangladesh) o Indian Mujahideen (IM) (India) o Lanshkar-e-Taiba (LeT) (Pakistan) o Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (Pakistan) o Turkistan Islamic Party (Paskistan) 3. AQIS Leadership With the formation of AQIS, al-Zawahiri named Asim Umar the Emir of al Qaeda’s latest affiliate. A trained theologian and Pakistani native, Asim is known as a skilled orator who previously taught at a madrassa in Karachi and has written four books promoting Jihad.5 He has been associated with a number of Jihadi groups including Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HUJI)6 and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), and was a former commander in the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).7 Before going onto become a trusted lieutenant of al- Qaeda, and rose to be the group’s “internet propagandist and also head of Al Qaeda’s Sharia committee for Pakistan” before being appointed Emir of AQIS.8 The choice of Asim marks a change from al-Qaeda predilection for choosing Arab leaders, and it shows a clear strategic vision to choose a leader that is both well-known al Qaeda Central (AQC) but also well-connected to Jihadi groups across South Asia. As Abdul Basit notes, “[t]he emergence of AQIS and the appointment of a Pakistani jihadist ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4 leader with anti-India credentials indicates that Al Qaeda wants to cement its place in the region on a long-term basis”.9 In addition, Ahmad Farouq was appointed as deputy-emir. He was previously al Qaeda’s head of preaching and media in Pakistan. Although AQIS has claimed he is from Pakistan, the U.S. have also stated that he was an American citizen. However Farouq was subsequently killed by a U.S. drone strike on 15 January 2015 in North Waziristan, Pakistan.10 Since its formation the leadership of AQIS have been consistently targeted by the US – less than half a year after AQIS’ formation, five senior leaders had been killed by the US, either by drone strikes or by US forces in al-Qaeda’s Afghan/Pakistan border regions.11 4. The Rationale for the Creation of AQIS The dominant initial interpretation by the media and security analysts of the announcement of the formation of AQIS, was that this was an attempt to regain the initiative from ISIS, after the latter began to challenge al-Qaeda as the leaders of the worldwide jihadi movement, following their announcement of the formation of the caliphate two months earlier.12 However, there is a debate over reasons behind AQIS formation, was it simply a reaction to ISIS? In a special addition of the Resurgence magazine published in Summer 2015, almost a year after the announcement of the formation of AQIS, Adam Yahiye Gadahn 13 answered accusations that the announcement had been contrived as an attempt to take back the initiative from ISIS. Rejecting this, Gadahn claims that the project was: spread out over a period of years and months. And I know for a fact that the actual formation of the branch was finalized in mid-2013, i.e. well before the break with the Iraqi branch. So the founding of the new branch had ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… absolutely nothing to do with any perceived or presumed rivalry between al- Qaeda and Islamic State.14 Similarly, security analyst Shreya Das argues that the process was set in motion before the rise of ISIS, but also that this was not the first time al-Qaeda had attempted to open a South-Asian branch, with a previous effort failing after the killing of senior operative IIyas Kashmiri in a U.S. drone strike in 2011.15 However, as Das points out, by lending the new branch the al-Qaeda brand name, this immediately put the new group in the front line of the war on terror, arguing that “[t]he interests of the group may have been better served by adopting a more innocuous name, which would allow it to fly under the radar and consolidate its position, while avoiding excess scrutiny”, and suggesting that “public image and bolstering the al-Qaeda global brand” may have been important reasons for the formation of AQIS.16 An alternative narrative regarding the formation of AQIS, is that it is driven by a long- term strategic re-adjustment to the drawdown of American troops in Afghanistan.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS): an Al-Qaeda Affiliate Case Study Pamela G
    Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS): An Al-Qaeda Affiliate Case Study Pamela G. Faber and Alexander Powell October 2017 DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited. This document contains the best opinion of CNA at the time of issue. It does not necessarily represent the opinion of the sponsor. Distribution DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited. SPECIFIC AUTHORITY: N00014-16-D-5003 10/27/2017 Request additional copies of this document through [email protected]. Photography Credit: Michael Markowitz, CNA. Approved by: October 2017 Dr. Jonathan Schroden, Director Center for Stability and Development Center for Strategic Studies This work was performed under Federal Government Contract No. N00014-16-D-5003. Copyright © 2017 CNA Abstract Section 1228 of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) states: “The Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence, shall provide for the conduct of an independent assessment of the effectiveness of the United States’ efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al- Qaeda, including its affiliated groups, associated groups, and adherents since September 11, 2001.” The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict (ASD (SO/LIC)) asked CNA to conduct this independent assessment, which was completed in August 2017. In order to conduct this assessment, CNA used a comparative methodology that included eight case studies on groups affiliated or associated with Al-Qaeda. These case studies were then used as a dataset for cross-case comparison. This document is a stand-alone version of the Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) case study used in the Independent Assessment.
    [Show full text]
  • Shatranj Ki Baazi FINAL
    SHATRANJ KI BAAZI MUSLIM WOMEN’S ACTIVISM, THE PATRIARCHY AND TRIPLE TALAQ IN MODI’S INDIA Danielle Ayana D’Aguilar Plan II Honors University of Texas at Austin May 15, 2019 Hina Azam, PhD. Middle Eastern Studies Thesis Supervisor Syed Akbar Hyder, PhD. Asian Studies Second Reader To the women of Lucknow who welcomed me into their homes and communities, shared their stories and taught me to understand their perspectives, their hopes and their fears. ❃ ❃ ❃ To my wonderful host mother in Mahanagar, Simi Ahmad, and her youngest daughters, Asna and Aiman. ❃ ❃ ❃ To my dear friend, Roushon Talcott, my family, and others who provided intellectual and emotional support throughout this journey. !i Abstract Author: Danielle Ayana D’Aguilar Title: Shatranj Ki Bazi Supervisor: Hina Azam, PhD. Second Reader: Syed Akbar Hyder, PhD. In August, 2017, the Indian Supreme Court ruled on a landmark case involving one Shayara Bano and four petitioners that instant triple talaq, a unique and controversial variation of an Islamic method for declaring divorce, was incompatible with the Indian constitution due to its detrimental effects on Muslim women and its lack of centrality to the religion. Many news and media sources both in India and around the world were quick to report this as a straightforward victory for Muslim women, while the male-dominated Islamic scholarly community expressed disdain at the least and outrage at the most. However, the matter is far more complicated and requires an understanding of history, social structure and political ideologies in India. The first portion of this paper analyzes the history of State intervention in Muslim personal law from the colonial period onward in an effort to contextualize and critique the current government’s actions.
    [Show full text]
  • UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Here, There, and Elsewhere: A Multicentered Relational Framework for Immigrant Identity Formation Based on Global Geopolitical Contexts Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5817t513 Author Shams, Tahseen Publication Date 2018 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Here, There, and Elsewhere: A Multicentered Relational Framework for Immigrant Identity Formation Based on Global Geopolitical Contexts A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology by Tahseen Shams 2018 © Copyright by Tahseen Shams 2018 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Here, There, and Elsewhere: A Multicentered Relational Framework for Immigrant Identity Formation Based on Global Geopolitical Contexts by Tahseen Shams Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology University of California, Los Angeles, 2018 Professor Roger Waldinger, Co-Chair Professor Rubén Hernández-León, Co-Chair The scholarship on international migration has long theorized how immigrants form new identities and build communities in the hostland. However, largely limited to studying the dyadic ties between the immigrant-sending and -receiving countries, research thus far has overlooked how sociopolitics in places beyond, but in relation to, the homeland and hostland can also shape immigrants’ identities. This dissertation addresses this gap by introducing a more comprehensive analytical design—the multicentered relational framework—that encompasses global political contexts in the immigrants’ homeland, hostland, and “elsewhere.” Based primarily on sixty interviews and a year’s worth of ethnographic data on Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Indian Muslims in California, I trace how different dimensions of the immigrants’ “Muslim” identity category tie them to different “elsewhere” contexts.
    [Show full text]
  • An Interview with Teesta Setalvad
    Jindal Global Law Review https://doi.org/10.1007/s41020-020-00116-3 ARTICLE Proto‑fascism and State impunity in Majoritarian India: An Interview with Teesta Setalvad Oishik Sircar1 © O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) 2020 Abstract This interview with Teesta Setalvad was conducted in the wake of the February 2020 anti-Muslim violence in North East Delhi. Drawing on her vast experience as a human rights activist, journalist, and peace educator, Setalvad’s responses map the continuum — across years, anti-minority pogroms and ruling parties with divergent ideologies — of the cultures of hate, and the practices of state repression and impu- nity in a proto-fascist India. Setalvad ofers an interrogation of the ideology of the Hindu right, delves into the historical trajectories of the rise of the Rashtriya Sway- amsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She also charts the repeating patterns of police and media complicity in fomenting anti-minority hate and critically analyses the contradictory role of the criminal law and the Constitu- tion of India in both enabling and resisting communal violence. In conclusion, she ofers hopeful strategies for keeping alive the promise of secularism. Keywords State impunity · Hindutva · Gujarat 2002 · Pogrom · Genocide 1 Introduction The cover of Teesta Setalvad’s memoir — Foot Soldier of the Constitution — features a photograph of her looking directly into the eyes of the reader.1 Her face is partly lit and lightly silhouetted, her eyes simultaneously conveying an invitation and a provocation. One might use words like determination, courage and fortitude to describe the expres- sion on her face — as the blurb on the back cover of the book does.
    [Show full text]
  • Religious Movements, Militancy, and Conflict in South Asia Cases from India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan
    a report of the csis program on crisis, conflict, and cooperation Religious Movements, Militancy, and Conflict in South Asia cases from india, pakistan, and afghanistan 1800 K Street, NW | Washington, DC 20006 Tel: (202) 887-0200 | Fax: (202) 775-3199 Authors E-mail: [email protected] | Web: www.csis.org Joy Aoun Liora Danan Sadika Hameed Robert D. Lamb Kathryn Mixon Denise St. Peter July 2012 ISBN 978-0-89206-738-1 Ë|xHSKITCy067381zv*:+:!:+:! CHARTING our future a report of the csis program on crisis, conflict, and cooperation Religious Movements, Militancy, and Conflict in South Asia cases from india, pakistan, and afghanistan Authors Joy Aoun Liora Danan Sadika Hameed Robert D. Lamb Kathryn Mixon Denise St. Peter July 2012 CHARTING our future About CSIS—50th Anniversary Year For 50 years, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has developed practical solutions to the world’s greatest challenges. As we celebrate this milestone, CSIS scholars continue to provide strategic insights and bipartisan policy solutions to help decisionmakers chart a course toward a better world. CSIS is a bipartisan, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Center’s 220 full-time staff and large network of affiliated scholars conduct research and analysis and de- velop policy initiatives that look into the future and anticipate change. Since 1962, CSIS has been dedicated to finding ways to sustain American prominence and prosperity as a force for good in the world. After 50 years, CSIS has become one of the world’s pre- eminent international policy institutions focused on defense and security; regional stability; and transnational challenges ranging from energy and climate to global development and economic integration.
    [Show full text]
  • Has Adam Gadahn Forsaken the Lawful Jihad for Anti-Americanism? a Case Study of Ideological Contradictions by Paul Kamolnick
    PERSPECTIVES ON TERRORISM Volume 8, Issue 6 Has Adam Gadahn Forsaken the Lawful Jihad for Anti-Americanism? A Case Study of Ideological Contradictions by Paul Kamolnick And if you say that this barbaric style is known in your tribal traditions, or your people’s traditions, or tolerated by your Shaykh or Emir, we would say: It is not allowed in our Islam . A fight that is not guided by the Shari’ah rules is not honored.[1] We denounce any operation carried out by a Jihadi group that does not consider the sanctity of Mus- lims and their blood and money. We refuse to attribute these crimes to Qa’ida al-Jihad Organization. .This position and the judgment is not to be changed if the act is carried out in the name of Jihad or under the banner of establishing Shari’ah and the legal measures, or under the name of promot- ing virtue and preventing vice. As long as it is forbidden in God’s religion, we are disassociated from it.[2] I have no doubt that what is happening to the Jihadi movement in these countries is not misfortune, but punishment by God on us because of our sins and injustices, or because of the sins of some of us and the silence of the rest of us.[3] Abstract Despite his importance as a senior Al-Qaeda spokesman, no detailed examination exists of Adam Yahiye Gadahn’s employment of fiqh al-jihad—that branch of Islamic jurisprudence regulating the lawful waging of jihad—to condemn or condone violence committed in the name of Al-Qaeda.
    [Show full text]
  • Bangladesh: Extremism & Counter-Extremism
    Bangladesh: Extremism & Counter-Extremism On July 1, 2016, at least five Islamist militants stormed into Holey Artisan Bakery, an upscale restaurant in the Gulshan neighborhood of Dhaka, and detonated explosives before separating the Muslim and local Bangladeshi hostages from the non-Muslims and foreigners. After a 12-hour siege, Bangladeshi security forces stormed the restaurant in the early hours of July 2 and freed 13 hostages. The officials found 20 hostages hacked and stabbed to death, including Italian, Japanese, Indian, and U.S. citizens. Four militants and two police officers were killed over the course of the incident, and one militant was arrested. (Sources: Reuters, Dhaka Tribune, CNN, BBC News, BBC News) The July 1 restaurant attack reportedly was the 24th ISIS attack in Bangladesh since September 2015, and the most deadly in a spate of terror attacks in Bangladesh in 2016. Though ISIS claimed responsibility, some U.S. officials said that the assault bore the hallmark of al-Qaeda’s regional affiliate, al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent. In October 2016, ISIS released an article reiterating its claim of responsibility and providing its own narrative of the attacks. Bangladeshi authorities reportedly have evidence of communications between the architect of the attack and Abu Terek Mohammad Tajuddin Kausar, an ISIS militant born in Bangladesh but living in Australia. Kausar is said to have approved the attack and ordered the assailants to specifically target non-Muslim foreigners and expatriates. (Sources: Guardian, Dhaka Tribune, NPR, Times of India, CNN, Hindu BusinessLine, Dhaka Tribune, Reuters, Reuters, New York Times) Bangladeshi officials nonetheless claim that ISIS does not maintain a presence in the country.
    [Show full text]
  • Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent: a New Frontline in the Global Jihadist Movement?” the International Centre for Counter- Ter Rorism – the Hague 8, No
    AL-QAEDA IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: The Nucleus of Jihad in South Asia THE SOUFAN CENTER JANUARY 2019 AL-QAEDA IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: THE NUCLEUS OF JIHAD IN SOUTH ASIA !1 AL-QAEDA IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: THE NUCLEUS OF JIHAD IN SOUTH ASIA AL-QAEDA IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT (AQIS): The Nucleus of Jihad in South Asia THE SOUFAN CENTER JANUARY 2019 !2 AL-QAEDA IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: THE NUCLEUS OF JIHAD IN SOUTH ASIA CONTENTS List of Abbreviations 4 List of Figures & Graphs 5 Key Findings 6 Executive Summary 7 AQIS Formation: An Affiliate with Strong Alliances 11 AQIS Leadership 19 AQIS Funding & Finances 24 Wahhabization of South Asia 27 A Region Primed: Changing Dynamics in the Subcontinent 31 Global Threats Posed by AQIS 40 Conclusion 44 Contributors 46 About The Soufan Center (TSC) 48 Endnotes 49 !3 AL-QAEDA IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: THE NUCLEUS OF JIHAD IN SOUTH ASIA LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AAI Ansar ul Islam Bangladesh ABT Ansar ul Bangla Team AFPAK Afghanistan and Pakistan Region AQC Al-Qaeda Central AQI Al-Qaeda in Iraq AQIS Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent FATA Federally Administered Tribal Areas HUJI Harkat ul Jihad e Islami HUJI-B Harkat ul Jihad e Islami Bangladesh ISI Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence ISKP Islamic State Khorasan Province JMB Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh KFR Kidnap for Randsom LeJ Lashkar e Jhangvi LeT Lashkar e Toiba TTP Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan !4 AL-QAEDA IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: THE NUCLEUS OF JIHAD IN SOUTH ASIA LIST OF FIGURES & GRAPHS Figure 1: Map of South Asia 9 Figure 2:
    [Show full text]
  • The Al Qaeda Network a New Framework for Defining the Enemy
    THE AL QAEDA NETWORK A NEW FRAMEWORK FOR DEFINING THE ENEMY KATHERINE ZIMMERMAN SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AL QAEDA NETWORK A NEW FRAMEWORK FOR DEFINING THE ENEMY KATHERINE ZIMMERMAN SEPTEMBER 2013 A REPORT BY AEI’S CRITICAL THREATS PROJECT ABOUT US About the Author Katherine Zimmerman is a senior analyst and the al Qaeda and Associated Movements Team Lead for the Ameri- can Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project. Her work has focused on al Qaeda’s affiliates in the Gulf of Aden region and associated movements in western and northern Africa. She specializes in the Yemen-based group, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and al Qaeda’s affiliate in Somalia, al Shabaab. Zimmerman has testified in front of Congress and briefed Members and congressional staff, as well as members of the defense community. She has written analyses of U.S. national security interests related to the threat from the al Qaeda network for the Weekly Standard, National Review Online, and the Huffington Post, among others. Acknowledgments The ideas presented in this paper have been developed and refined over the course of many conversations with the research teams at the Institute for the Study of War and the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project. The valuable insights and understandings of regional groups provided by these teams directly contributed to the final product, and I am very grateful to them for sharing their expertise with me. I would also like to express my deep gratitude to Dr. Kimberly Kagan and Jessica Lewis for dedicating their time to helping refine my intellectual under- standing of networks and to Danielle Pletka, whose full support and effort helped shape the final product.
    [Show full text]
  • Adam Yahiye Gadahn October 19. 2014 for More Than Two Decades
    Besiege Them! Adam Yahiye Gadahn October 19. 2014 For more than two decades, Muslims have been told that the just solution to the problem of the Jewish occupation of Palestine is in the Western-sponsored creation of an emaciated, defenseless and nominally independent state for Arabs on a mere fraction of the land of Palestine, with the lion's share remaining in the hands of the Jews for them to rule and corrupt as they please. The so-called 'two-state solution' – which in practical terms is a 'one and one-half state solution' (or perhaps a 'one and one-third state solution'!) – is not only unacceptable to the majority of Palestinians, it is also against the laws and principles of Islam, and ignores the fact that Palestine was an Islamic land and will always be an Islamic land; and this is why the only way forward and the only just answer to the Palestinian 'question' is the removal of 'Israel' in its entirety and the recovery of all of Muslim Palestine by Muslims and for Muslims. Palestine is for Muslims, because Palestine is the Land of the Prophets, and Muslims are the true heirs to the Prophets and not the Jews. If the Torah, Evangel and Koran clearly state that Allah's covenant doesn't extend to the wrongdoers, even if they be offspring of Prophets, how then could there possibly be any validity in the Jews' claims that Palestine is their birthright? Not only did the Children of Israel – from whom emerged the Jews – fail to discharge the responsibility they were given to worship Allah alone, do good deeds for His sake, enjoin good and forbid evil and spread His religion, they also disbelieved in some of the Prophets and Messengers sent to reform and guide them, to the extent of killing some of them and making gods out of others.
    [Show full text]
  • The Militant Pipeline Between the Afghanistan-Pakistan Border Region and the West
    New America Foundation National Security Studies Program Policy Paper The Militant Pipeline Between the Afghanistan-Pakistan Border Region and the West Paul Cruickshank Second Edition July 2011; First Edition February 2010 Of the 32 “serious” jihadist terrorist plots against the West between 2004 and 2011, 53 percent had operational or training links to established jihadist groups in Pakistan and just 6 percent to Yemen. A decade after 9/11, despite growing concerns over Yemen, entry to join the fighting in Afghanistan, the presence of al Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Qaeda, and its sustained ability to train recruits and swaths of the country’s northwest arguably remain al Qaeda persuade them to launch attacks in the West, continue to ’s main safe haven, and the area from which it can hatch its make the FATA what President Obama called in 2009 “the most dangerous plots against the West. 1 Al Qaeda’s most dangerous place in the world.” 4 presence in these areas has long threatened international security. It was in Peshawar in Pakistan’s northwest that al U.S. officials have recently suggested that when it comes to Qaeda was founded in 1988, and ever since Pakistan’s the U.S. homeland, al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen – al Qaeda border region with Afghanistan has been a gateway for in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) – could now pose a recruits joining the terrorist network and its affiliates, and greater threat than “al Qaeda Central” in the tribal areas of an area in which its senior figures have felt comfortable Pakistan.
    [Show full text]
  • Threat of Indian Mujahideen: the Long View
    ISAS Insights No. 234 – 28 November 2013 469A Bukit Timah Road #07-01, Tower Block, Singapore 259770 Tel: 6516 6179 / 6516 4239 Fax: 6776 7505 / 6314 5447 Email: [email protected] Website: www.isas.nus.edu.sg Threat of Indian Mujahideen: The Long View Shanthie Mariet D'Souza and Bibhu Prasad Routray1 Abstract The explosions in Patna in India on 27 October 2013, targeting a political rally, once again brought the Indian Mujahideen into media focus. Far from being a localised group trying to exploit local grievances, the Indian Mujahideen is fast emerging as both a formidable group within India and also an example for terrorist formations elsewhere. Introduction The origin and growth of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) have been linked to a host of issues including communal riots, perceived alienation among the Muslims, and even India’s diplomatic relations with Israel. Some organisations and personalities have, on the other hand, termed it a mere conception of the intelligence agencies and an imagination of the media. Such speculations and presumptions notwithstanding, the evolution of the IM and its growth dynamics continue to be baffling. In the context of 18 episodes of explosions in 14 Indian cities since 2005, which 1 Dr Shanthie Mariet D’Souza is Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), an autonomous research institute at the National University of Singapore. She can be contacted at [email protected]. Dr Bibhu Prasad Routray is a Security Analyst/Consultant based in Singapore. He served as Deputy Director in the National Security Council Secretariat, Government of India, New Delhi.
    [Show full text]